Israel-Iran live updates: Hegseth defends Iran bombing, says media undermining ‘success’
President Donald Trump told ABC News on Tuesday morning he is “not happy” with either Israel or Iran after the opening hours of a nascent ceasefire between the two combatants were marred by reported exchanges.
Trump said Iran and Israel both “violated” the ceasefire that he announced late on Monday, in comments made as he departed the White House.
On Wednesday morning, the president and his administration continued to push back on an early intelligence report suggesting that the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities likely only set Tehran’s nuclear program back by months.
Centrifuges at Fordow nuclear facility ‘suffered a great deal,’ IAEA Director says
The centrifuges at Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility “have suffered a great deal,” International Atomic Energy Agency Director Rafael Grossi said Thursday.
“Given the scale and capacity of the military means used, we can deduce that the centrifuges have suffered a great deal, if [they] have not been destroyed,” Grossi said, originally in French.
When asked if it’s possible that some of the technology or centrifuges at Fordo survived, are still operational or have been moved, Grossi said “it’s a hypothesis,” that can’t be ruled out.
Grossi said while he understands the logic behind Israel and the U.S.’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, he said he believed “there was a diplomatic path.” Grossi acknowledged Iran was not cooperating in the U.S.-Iran negotiations before military intervention was taken.
“I could never say the solution was [using the] military. I’m not criticizing. It’s not my position to do so,” Grossi said. “Until the day military action was triggered, Iran was not cooperating in the necessary way.”